Reality, Memory and Remembering

What is reality? What really is happening? What has already taken place? What will happen tomorrow?

Reality is not something that anyone can ever pin or nail down with any certainty of accuracy. Reality does happen, though. It is memory and the process of remembering that alter our impressions of our past and distorts reality.

One can never reclaim a past reality, nor have that reality interact with our present mental state without altering the initial memory; our mental reality is always in flux.

There are no constants in the mind except for the stubborn view we have of our self. And, self does not exist outside of your own temporal experiences. There is nothing that exists outside of anything, everything and nothing. All three are the same and dependent on the others to exist.

When we begin to hold onto our storylines, we lose present perspective, our present actions lose focus and our intention becomes clouded by our distorted views. This is the fallacy of reality, memory and remembering. The only truth with and in the past is that it's not the here and the now.

The Process of Misunderstanding

Are you encouraging a difference of opinion or seeking a regurgitation of your own views??? Of course, I was not comparing myself to composers, scientists, etc. That was used as an analogy. I didn't think there was right or wrong answers when one comments their own opinion... My opinion is different than yours!

I'm encouraging understanding and patience. You obviously feel very strongly about your own opinion. I make every attempt to go beyond right, wrong and otherwise. I most assuredly bungle that in every interchange. That does not mean I should stop making every effort going forward.

You are commenting on the ideas I've expressed and that I currently am engaged in with my mind and my life. I appreciate every one of these comments, as it exposes to myself what aspects of my process that require a more intensive analysis and further delineation.

If you come to an initial understanding that someone has misunderstood what you're attempting to describe, would you not make every attempt to rid the exchange of that misunderstanding?

These are all words, and words do have meaning beyond the simple definition. Words have power from our own history, a history that others sometimes do not share. It's like reading any of this to someone who does not speak or understand English whatsoever. These are just words; they are truly meaningless by themselves. It is the intent and the perspective behind the words where the truth resides.

Ridding of Ignorance, Re-Invigorated

Your cynicism is showing!! The pendulum swings both ways in positive contributions and negative ones. I dare you to argue the work of scientists to create vaccines against polio, malaria, and smallpox..to name a few. Their lifetime efforts of research and development were worthy endeavors. Can you state that works of literature that have taken years to write in order to teach and challenge thought of the reader wasn't a worthy endeavor? Can you believe that our best composers who took years developing their talents to compose great music for which generations would continue to enjoy were not contributing valuably to society?? I continue to believe that only being concerned with the moment and now is immature and irresponsible.

Humanity has lost much that is not recoverable. Nothing lasts forever; this planet and this solar system will be scattered throughout the galaxy, just like our bodies will be scattered across this planet. Living your life thinking that somehow what you do now or ever will be etched into history forever, seems a painful way to exist. I doubt that Frederic Chopin or Louis Pasteur considered for one minute what we're doing right this minute.

You miss the entire point of what I've been discussing with myself here. This is understandable; let us have some patience with ourselves.

Don't you see that by comparing yourself to all these composers, scientists and writers that you've totally lost focus on doing something right this moment? You're so lost in the mesh of what you think you know so well that you cannot contemplate anything nor any concept not known to you right now.

You continously use words to qualitatively lower others around you, and due only to the presentation of a different idea or a different opinion to your own. Words like irresponsible and immature directed toward anyone demeans yourself. When you enter a discussion feeling as if you must prove something or someone wrong, you're no longer discussing anything. The ability to expand your view diminishes considerably.

Being certain means you're actively engaged in your life; you're doing something with your life. Realizing the destructive potential of our living power does not negate the constructive potential of that same power today. It's a recognition of the truth. Many truths can co-exist and contradict each other simultaneously. The key is to be flexible enough and aware enough in this moment to act with certainty yet not be attached to the outcome you so desire to be the result.

These are not easy waters to wade into casually. Attempting to apply fixed concepts to non-fixed realities is going to always be painful if you remain aware. So many are not aware, yet experience vivid pain and suffering as the result of that lack of awareness.

I feel the reason people do not act differently and participate directly in their community is because they hold the view that these massive problems we all face are fixed situations and are immoveable and intractable. Some people feel as if they have no affect on those problems, and, accordingly, don't bother to do anything at all.

These fixed concepts are the ignorance I so wish to rid from my mind, my life and my community. This is the heart of the ignorance I wish to tear out of my life and do so openly, with compassion and patience for others.

Thank you for this opportunity to re-invigorate my efforts toward this aim.

Follow these series.
Frightening World, Scary Me 2
Crucial Certainty
Frightening World, Scary Me

Frightening World, Scary Me 2

Letting go and not wanting more is succumbing to fear.

I believe just the opposite. What is it that you can hold onto right now that will be with you when you're dead? What more do you need right now that you can have without taking that from someone else or causing anyone pain? To me, it sounds like the fear is yours, not mine. It is a completely understandable position though.

What a person does yesterday is important. It is significant. Because yesterday involved learning and growing and courageously trying to improve oneself and one's community, and one's ability to contribute to the betterment of tomorrow. How selfish to think that only today and this moment matters.

What a person does yesterday is as important as you're attachment to it.

Many people have killed people and lived to do amazingly good things for others in the future, even saving people's lives. Other people have done so much good in the past, yet today terrorize and spread hatred and bigotry. Which person here is the good person by your method? The one that did good yesterday, or the one that did good today? I believe both to be good, irrespective of yesterday or today.

Thank goodness that our great scientists, leaders, and teachers have believed that tomorrow is significant to the quality of life of each individual. Thank goodness our doctors and laborers believe that tomorrow is worthy of their efforts, and that a quality life is an admirable goal. Are you certain that one's thoughts are more important than one's actions??

Great scientists have created more death and devastation on this planet than anything else. What has led to all this additional, toxic pollution in the world? It's misuse of technology. Despite scientists' greatest aspirations for their work, anything can be used as a weapon or can yield destructive and constructive results.

Look at current world leaders as well as throughout history. Leaders constantly make decisions that have led to the unforeseen death of people, animals or plants, sometimes in order to save other people's lives. Does any good come from loss of life? Absolutely. Does any good come from allowing nature to take it's course? Absolutely.

Do not let fear keep yourself from a productive life for yourself. If you allow yourself to think that even a brief, mortal existence isn't worthy of wanting to be a significant part of society, then that is a destructive path in itself. It does not matter what other's definition of a successful life is. It matters if you are using your talents and abilities to make some positive difference. What matters is that you do move forward!

Again, this fear is your fear, not mine. All of our lives produce something, and that's everything that we consume. What we consume cannot be consumed by others until we shit, piss or sweat it out.

We are a significant part of society just living, breathing, eating and shitting. Why do you think sewage and trash are some of the largest social issues affecting modern-day society in America? Because we all want so much and do not realize that wanting so much, having so much means that we litter the world with our shit.

The key, we believe, is to not get caught up in making a positive difference, but to do good now. Getting caught up in the atmospherics of some fairytale future seems a good way of exhausting our talents and abilities uselessly. Moving forward comes at a high price, either for ourselves, for others or for our planet.

Follow this series.Frightening World, Scary Me

Crucial Certainty

Being certain in what we are doing, thinking and feeling can be a crucial part of a successful existence. Certainty has nothing to do with right, wrong, correct or incorrect. It is a vessel in the pursuit of figuring out how to interact directly with your day, your life and your community in a real, substantive way. Without certainty, our actions are less than wholehearted, our thoughts are muddled and lax and our feelings are confused and disjointed from reality.

Some people begin with thoughts and feelings and then act; others do not think or feel anything about what they're doing before, during or after acting. Both strategies can have mixed results, making it difficult to ascertain the direct line of cause and effect. This can lead to confusion about how to become more effecient and increasingly effective in one's daily life.

When we use certainty at the front end of a situation and act on a gut level, we're using our minds and hearts in unison. The causes here are immediately accessible. Then, we can use our mental resources to collect raw data without being muddled with any feelings attached to the predicted results. This data then adds to our experience which will alter our gut level response in any similar situation.

This method also allows us to have a fresh emotional response to the results and how those results were produced. Sometimes, we all have managed to get what we want and not felt good about it at all. Other times, what we did to get the result we desired weighs us down, even if what we received or what happened was worthwhile in the end. These feelings alter that gut level response in future similar situations.

The key in certainty is to not allow ourselves to get attached to the results we want to see in anything we do. We need to always act with the assurance that we're going to do the best we are able to do now and ensure that the next set of decisions and situations are affected by what we do now. The only way to effectively do that is to let go of what we want to happen, explore the entire reality of the outcomes of what did take place and be as certain in the moment called right now.

Frightening World, Scary Me

I am frightened. This world is so scary. I am so scary.

Our power is even more terrifying than anything or anyone you will ever meet. We have this raw energy that can lift us up, tear us down or dissipate like a puff of smoke into a cloudy sky. What we do with this power is as important as what we do not do with it.

As frightening as our modern day life truly is, it pales in fright to the destruction we alone can wage upon others and to our world. The capacity to be constructive requires the destruction of something else.

To lead a constructive, powerful life we must destroy our self, our self-pity as well as our passion to see to it that we never rise so far to ensure we never fall too far or too hard. How we handle our fear is how we handle ourselves.

Could letting go of all of it be the way forward? Letting go of wanting more for our life; letting go of wanting to give more in our life; letting go of this immortal view of our brief, mortal existence. Can we consider letting go of all movement; forward, backward, up, down even letting go of standing still?

The way forward is nowhere. It is right here, right now. What we do tomorrow does not exist today. What we did yesterday does not even exist today. It matters only what we do this moment; it is the only moment that exists, and it could all be taken from us with little or no effort.

With our expiration date obscured, our past obscured and our future nowhere to be found, our life is completely in our mind right now. It is more about how we feel and think about what we're doing than anything we've ever done or could be doing. Anything beyond thinking and feeling as a benchmark for a successful life seems absurd.

Nourishing Human Spirit

Difficulties and frustrations seem to surround us. Obstacles continue to be found directly in our path whichever way we go. We find ourselves in a solution and resolution drought.

When we find ourselves in any or all of these experiences, returning attention towards the nourishment of your spirit is necessary. We often forget that no one can take away the way we feel and think about our life. Both feeling and thinking reside wholly within ourselves.

We may have talked to someone who has been in the pit of hell and who feels and thinks that everything is terrible and awful. It does not matter what we say or do for this person, we cannot alleviate his or her pain and suffering. We cannot make him or her feel differently about the current predicament. The same can be said of someone who has a good outlook on his or her life. Nothing can truly stop us from feeling good about our lives.

Certainly, there are a myriad of ways that we can perceive the experiences that are possible. The way we feel and think about those experiences is up to us. We can find them full of misery and that there are no alternatives. We can find them full of experiential information and as offerings of opportunities for growth and learning.

When all that fails, as it will do, we need to remain focused on nourishing our spirit. This nourishment can come from interaction with others, but that interaction is never something to depend upon for all time. If we make that nourishment directed by ourselves, than we always have a spirit refueling station, right here, right now.

Surround yourself with good ways to take good care of you; good ways to remind yourself and your subconcious that you deserve as good as you give and that you can weather any situation. I'm talking about the basics. This does not have to be expensive or cost anything.

Think simple. Consider what you must do everyday or nearly everyday and create ways to make those everyday occurrences special and healing.

Think simple. Think everyday. Offer those self-nourishments to others.

Often, we can get lost in all the dark, scary clouds that are on the horizon, leaving the area or right on top of us. If we train ourselves for daily nourishment, past, present and future won't be these looming troubles anymore. We'll return to our daily nourishment and move on with pure heart and calm mind.